Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth enters its hundredth year even as recent data suggests the pure timeliness of this classic.
Fresh sales data from its original publisher, Navajivan, highlights a notable trend: readers in South India are leading the country in embracing the book’s message, claimed reports.
Translations in South Indian languages now account for one-third of the publisher’s total sales, indicating the region’s strong engagement with Gandhi’s life and philosophy.
The world will commemorate the Mahatma’s 156th birth anniversary on Thursday, just as the iconic memoir begins its centennial year.
The autobiography was first used in Gandhi’s periodical, Navajivan, starting in November 1925.
Later, it was published in two volumes: in 1927 and 1929.
Despite the lapse of copyright in 2009 (60 years after Gandhi’s death) Navajivan Press continues to print scores of copies every year. Kapil Rawal, a trustee of the Navajivan Trust, told a national daily that following the lapse of copyright in 2009, many publishers printed the autobiography.
Rawal noted that the Malayalam edition holds a unique record, being the only Indian language translation of the book to see print orders exceeding one lakh copies in a year, achieved twice, in 1999–2000 and 2000–01.
He added that the English version has recorded the highest sales, with 21.9 lakh copies sold. The Hindi translation has sold 7.06 lakh copies, closely followed by the Gujarati edition with 7.05 lakh.
Rawal estimated that total sales might be higher than 61 lakh, taking into account international editions and rights granted to foreign publishers.
The book’s most successful year in terms of sales was 2010–11, when 3.4 lakh copies were sold. This was followed by 2.8 lakh copies in 2000–01 and 2.36 lakh in 2006–07.
Rawal attributed the 2006–07 spike to the popularity of Lage Raho Munna Bhai. The movie is credited for reviving interest in Gandhian ideals.
He said that two films made the autobiography popular again. The first was the Oscar-winning film Gandhi. The second was the 2006-released Lage Raho Munna Bhai. So popular was the movie that it led many Mumbai-based groups to sell the autobiography outside cinema halls.
By 2005, total sales stood at 28.5 lakh copies. In the two decades since, an additional 32.7 lakh have been sold. Vivek Desai, managing trustee of Navajivan Trust, said this growth was the result of the awareness and curiosity about the Mahatma harboured by each generation.
Desai also credited institutional outreach, mentioning that several organisations conduct exams based on the autobiography for school and college students.
He added that Navajivan Trust conducts similar exams for prison inmates across Gujarat.
In 2016, one such exam made headlines when Safdar Nagori, the prime accused in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts that killed 56 people, scored 76 out of 80 on the test based on Gandhi’s autobiography.
While Navajivan Trust does not accept donations, officials said individuals often come forward to offer books instead. According to the report, a cancer patient recently donated Rs 10 lakh, expressing a wish to spread Gandhi’s message to future generations.
That’s the reach and impact of the classic.
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